Engine conditioner



United States Patent ENGINE CONDITIONER Carroll J. Sherman, Indianapolis, Ind.

.No Drawing. Application September 27, 1952, Serial No. 311,958

1' Claim. (Cl. 44-74) the fuel. The primary object of the invention is to provide such a mixture which, when so used in a fuel for an internal combustion engine will not only improve the .mileage and acceleration characteristics of the fuel, but

also act to remove carbon deposits from the interior of the engine, prevent further carbon deposits, free sticky valves, and improve thesealing action of the piston rings. A further object of the invention is to provide a mixture -ofsuch character that, when added to such a fuel in proper proportions, it will improve the combustion characteristics whether the fuel is burned in a system whose primary function is to produce usable mechanical power, or in a system whose primary function is to produce usable heat.

The mixture of the present invention consists of carbon tetrachloride as a major ingredient, with chloroform and oil of mirbane (nitro-benzene), and sometimes butyl alcohol, as minor ingredients. An optimum embodiment of my mixture contains carbon tetrachloride 122 parts, chloroform 4 parts and oil of mirbane 1 part; and, for some uses, it is sometimes desirable to add 1 part of butyl alcohol to the mixtures, all measurements being expressed in terms of volume.

Variations on the above formula are within the scope of my invention, as follows.

For some uses, butyl alcohol may be added to the formula of any one of the above examples, preferably in a volume substantially equal to the volume of oil of mirbane present.

In a series of carefully-controlled tests, I have established the fact that each of these formulae constitutes a mixture which, when added to commercial gasoline and burned in the internal combustion engine of an automobile, will improve the mileage characteristics or the acceleration characteristics, or both, of the untreated fuel. All of the said tests were made in the same 1950 Hudson Pacemaker equipped with a special tank. All mileage tests were made with a warm engine, by running the automobile on fuel drawn from the regular'tank until, at forty miles per hour, a starting point was reached, then manipulating valve means to cut off the fuel supplyfrom the regular tank and supply fuel from the special tank, and then continuing to drive the car, at forty miles per hour, over the same course for each test, until the supply of fuel in the special tank was exhausted and the engine died for lack of fuel. The special tank had a capacity of one pint; and the figures shown below were arithmetically calculated by multiplying the actual mileage covered on one pint of fuel, by eight, to show miles per gallon.

Acceleration tests were made by bringing the car, in high gear, to a speed of ten miles per hour, pressing the accelerator to the floor, and holding it there until the speedometer showed a reading of forty miles per hour, measuring the elapsed time by means of a stop watch. These tests were all, of course, made over a common course and under common conditions.

Preferred Formula Example 0 Example 13 Example A Commereial Gasoline Pickup in seconds.

Miles per gallon-.. 20. 00

In making these tests, the several mixtures were added to one brand of Regular gasoline, containing some tetraethyl-lead in the proportion of one fluid ounce of mixture to 20 gallons of gasolinespecifically, 3 drops of mixture to 1 pint of gasoline. When 6 drops of mixture were added to the pint of gasoline, the pickup rate improved, but the mileage dropped. When 12 drops of mixture were added, both mileage and acceleration figures dropped off. And when 24 drops of mixture were added, the acceleration rate dropped to the value attained with the untreated gasoline, and the mileage dropped to within 0.4 of the figure attained with untreated gasoline.

Other tests were made, using the individual ingredients of the mixture separately, with the following results:

Com- Chloro- Oil of Additive mercial 0014 form Mirbane Effect Gasoline Miles per gallon-.." 17.20 19.60 16. 17. 20 +2. 00

Untreated Treated Brand Mileage Accel- Mileage Acceleration eration A 18. 28 17.5 20.10 16. 6 17. 18.5 19.68 16. 5 17. 55 17. 6 18. 64 16. 4 18.28 18. 35 19. 37 16.5 E. 17.18 18. 7 19.01 17. 2 F- 17.18 20.0 18.39 15.0 F (Without tetraethyl-lead) 18. 4 19. 6

On June 2, 1952, at the Indianapolis Speedway, locale of the internationally famous SOD-mile annual Memorial Day race, I ohnnie McDowell, race driver, drove a series of tests on the track, using the above-described equipment with the following results:

On numerous occasions, one or another of the several formulae disclosed herein has been added, in the abovedescribed proportions, to the regular gasoline supplies of automobiles in which the engines were operating jerkily or balkily; and in each such instance, where the trouble was due to sticking vales, the ditliculty has cleared up within a very few miles of driving. On at least two occasions, the mixture has been added to the fuel supply of an automobile in which the cylinder head and pistons were badly caked with carbon deposits. These were instances in which the presence of the carbon deposits had been verified by removal of the heads and direct examination. On these occasions, the heads were replaced, without treatment of any kind for the carbon deposits, the fuel tanks were then filled with gasoline to which a proper proportion of my mixture was added, and the cars were then driven to exhaust the treated fuel supplies. When the heads were subsequently removed, examination showed that the carbon deposits on the heads and on the pistons had disappeared completely and that all surfaces were clean and bright.

Several times, the addition of my mixture to the fuel supply of engines which were pumping" crankcase oil has cured that condition. It is my present belief that this result has been achieved for the reason that the presence of my mixture has removed carbon deposits so caked about the piston rings as to restrict their expansive and contraetive action.

Further, my mixture, when added to fuel oils, particularly the heavier grades thereof, as used in household and commercial burners, is found to improve the heating efficiency of the fuel in such burners.

I claim as my invention:

A fuel for internal combustion engines consisting of gasoline devoid of tetraethyl-lead but containing a mixture of carbon tetrachloride 122 parts, chloroform 4 parts and oil of mirbane 1 part by volume, said mixture being present in the proportion of approximately 1 fluid ounce of mixture to 20 gallons of gasoline.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,313,158 Backhaus Aug. 12, 1919 1,325,907 Petty et a1 Dec. 23, 1919 1,474,135 Backhaus Nov. 13, 1923 1,570,060 Hammond Jan. 19, 1926 1,592,954 Midgley July 20, 1926 1,637,007 North et al. July 26, 1927 1,640,690 Canning Aug. 30, 1927 1,641,520 Bassett Sept. 6, 1927 FOREIGN PATENTS 531,367 France Aug. 7, 1925 

